


it takes one to know one

by sansapotter



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Deception, F/M, Fluff, POV Multiple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 17:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7542310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sansapotter/pseuds/sansapotter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everybody lies, but they don't realize who can see right through them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it takes one to know one

**Author's Note:**

> this is a repost of something that disappeared, or somehow got hidden by not me?? idk but the concept was for the lovely [Cata](http://www.tesadoraofphaedra.tumblr.com) , who puts up with reading all of my angst when she only wants to see fluff sometimes. In some kind of tumblr offer I asked what my followers wanted to see from me (I think, it was a really long time ago and she said: I want you to write some modern au where Jon, Sansa and Arya somehow have learned all their liar skills as Lord Snow, Alayne and No One, and are trying to fool each other, fluff and domestic, obviously JonxSansa and the other Starklings mooning around

“Jon’s coming to dinner tonight.” Arya said. “That’s exciting right?” She climbed into the old chair in Sansa’s room. Sansa’s smile didn’t reach her eyes, it never did anymore. She could fool Robb, he was so caught up in the new life he was making for himself; maybe he thought his good mood would trickle down into the whole family. It didn’t.

Mom could worry after the boys, it gave her a good distraction. At least Arya had friends who moved up North with her, Hot Pie, and Gendry made her feel safe and loved when she was away from her family. Not that she said it often. Even when she thought back to the Braavos, the people she’d met, even when she did get scared she could hide it.

Sansa was a terrible liar. Nobody else had caught on because they weren’t looking close enough. They weren’t asking the right questions. Arya knew better. She grew up watching Sansa, at first she was trying to be just like her; when that didn’t work she watched to make sure they had very little in common. While her sister started to force her laughs a long time ago, she never looked so worried as she did since coming back to Winterfell. 

One of Dad’s old friends from the war found her in the Vale. Yohn Royce drove her home after he called the cops on Petyr Baelish. Mom couldn’t believe it, in the way grown-ups can’t believe things, she believed Sansa was kidnapped by her old friend. That’s as much as anyone knew. Sansa didn’t share anything else with anyone else. She didn’t call it kidnapping either, Mr. Baelish let me stay with him until the Lannister’s left me alone. 

Mom said not to ask her too many questions, that Sansa would talk about it when she was ready. Arya was always around at four o’clock just in case today was the day her sister was ready. Two years later and she’d hardly said a word about it. She laughed, and played with Rickon outside, went for walks with Bran and Summer, but she was always avoiding the truth of what happened.

“That sounds nice.” Sansa agreed mildly. She turned in the chair at her vanity, “you don’t have to keep sitting with me if you don’t want to. I’m fine.”

Arya left not long after that, collecting her friends and making her way back home for dinner. Hot Pie always blushed and sputtered when he saw Sansa, at least Gendry pretended not to notice. Family dinners were mom’s idea. It was her way of coping without dad, ignoring it. The more people around the more her mom smiled. 

“Jon!” Robb shouted when his friend walked into the foyer. There were no pretenses in their hug, they were brothers, or as good as. He caught Arya when she ran to him, hugging her tight, “I missed you little sister.” 

Things were almost like they were, but then he saw Sansa and Arya realized just how much had changed. She’d seen boys look at her sister before, boys with stars in their eyes, boys who saw her blue eyes and could only mumble one syllable words. Jon had looked at Sansa plenty of times, never with disdain but this was different. It was only for a second, but his eyes went soft, like he was looking at a starry sky. 

“That’s weird,” she said to Gendry. 

“What was?”

“The way he looked at her.”

“I didn’t even notice,” Gendry shrugged. Sansa wasn’t the only bad liar she knew.

**

Jon Snow was a terrible liar. Though to be fair she learned to distinguish a lie from the truth over the course of six years when she was…away. It was second nature really, figure out who was lying, figure out why they’re lying, and use it to your advantage. Her therapist said it would take time for it to pass, to fall out of the habit. She should focus on something else when she caught herself trying to see through a person’s words. But really what harm could it do to identify liars?

She noticed it at dinner, when Bran asked him about the Wall. His eyes jumped up and darted, only for a moment, lingering on her then back to his plate. His answer was detailed enough to keep Bran’s interest, talking about the places he went, and the battles he fought. He never talked about the people he met, there were holes in the story. Jon was purposely omitting details. Nobody went from rookie to commander without a field test. 

What was funnier than than the lying itself, was that he thought he was good at it.

She wouldn’t call him out. That wouldn’t be fair, especially not when his eyes kept flickering toward hers, not to stare at her sympathetically the way everyone else did when they thought she wasn’t looking. It was like he was remembering. She would have bet that the lapse of time in his story had something to do with a woman. 

Jon sought her out after dinner, where she wasn’t really hiding. Sometimes sitting under everyone’s eyes was too much. “Robb told me what happened,” Jon sat beside her on the step where she watched the dogs run in the yard. 

“I’m fine, it’s been two years.” Sansa said.

“Maybe if you talked to someone about it-“

“I have, I still am. I go to therapy once a week.” She said, “I don’t want them to worry about me, they all have their own problems.”

“It might help to talk to someone who knows you.” Jon tried to explain.

“Are you talking to someone?” she deflected.

“I have the resources to.” So he wasn’t. Jon Snow was a mystery, she didn’t know what he was about, and that was dangerous.

“Well maybe you could talk to me,” madness really to offer such a thing. But it would be a fair trade at least, “I’d talk to you as well.”

Every day after dinner they went somewhere quiet. Jon was more trusting, he opened up first, maybe it was the mutual secrecy that helped him get the words out of his mouth. He’d been in love before. And no matter how much she wished she could say the same, she couldn’t. He didn’t look at her any differently when she told him what happened, not the whole of it but more than she told the others. There were some things she would never talk about. He fell in love when he was in deep cover, then he watched her die. She tried to give him the same courtesy, tried not to give him worried, sad looks whenever she found herself staring, which was more often than she was content to admit.

It was nearly three weeks before he took her under his arm when she shivered, and two more after that before she kissed him. His fingers were soft when they trailed down her ribs to her waist, the woman he loved taught him well. It was hard to ignore that fact, impossible to block out a woman who they talked about frequently. Sometimes Sansa thought Jon was confusing her with Ygritte. She’d been the subject of such confusion before, she did not think she could survive a second time. 

There was a time constraint on what they had anyway. Getting too attached would be foolish when he was leaving in a month. “I don’t want this to end,” Jon whispered into her neck. Maybe that was his problem. Jon didn’t know when to leave well enough alone.

*  
“Whatever you’re doing with Sansa needs to stop.” Arya insisted walking through the apartment door. It wasn’t unusual for her to show up at Jon’s apartment, but it was unusual for her to voice such demands at him. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said instinctively even as she shot him a pointed look. 

“She’s finally getting back to normal, and once you leave I’m going to have to pick up the mess you leave behind.”

“Arya, she’s always been fine,” if Sansa told her anything about the nature of their relationship, Jon could tell her that. “You guys have stuff going on, she didn’t want to bother you.”

“She’s not over anything that happened, she’d tell me about it.” Arya insisted. He thought it might be more than that. He’d been around when Arya was growing up, familiarized himself with the mulish set of her jaw, the indicators of a fit. This was more than that, for no matter how good of a liar she thought herself to be, he could see right through her. She lied like he did. 

“I care about your sister,” He said softly sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, “I hope you know that. I’d never do anything if I thought it would stop her recovery.”

“You just said she was fine.” Arya said with a frown.

He combed a hand through his hair, they’d cut it when he got back to base. “You don’t just recover from something like that overnight little one. She’ll probably always be healing.” 

“I just don’t know why she won’t talk to me about it.” Arya sighed. So that’s what this was about. “She wasn’t alone before you got here.”

“I never said she was.” Jon defended himself. 

“You’re thinking it though. I can tell.” She glared. He sighed again, he’d never been on this side of Arya’s anger or jealousy. It was an unusual spot to stand, to be the cause of the rage instead of soothing it.

“Have you told her about the Braavos?” He asked gently, knowing the answer. Arya hadn’t shared any information with Sansa about where she’d been, and that was the first problem. He realized she invited him to share with her because she wanted something over him at first. To know she could trust him not to run to Robb if she knew more about him than he knew about her. 

He offered it gladly, it was hard to feel like you couldn’t trust anyone with your secrets. He knew she kept more things from him than she shared, but he was patient and sure she’d trust him in time. Jon wasn’t much for talking, but there was give and take with Sansa. He wasn’t sure how Arya didn’t realize that. 

“She doesn’t need to hear all that.” Arya brushed him off. 

“Maybe she feels the same way.” Jon suggested gently. “I don’t plan on falling off the face of the earth when I go back.” He said, “I’ll still talk to you, if you have the time for me.”

“Don’t be stupid.” Arya nudged his shoulder. “Of course I will.”

“I won’t forget about Sansa either.” Jon said, “she won’t feel like she’s alone. I promised I wouldn’t say anything, but I think she’s happy to have you around.”

“Thanks,” Arya might consider herself a great liar, but was never good at keeping anything from Jon.

  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm over on [tumblr](http://www.sansa-potter.tumblr.com) hanging out, procrastinating, and writing :)


End file.
